The present invention relates to a new and improved clamping mechanism for temporarily holding cables, wires and the like for the purpose of tensioning such cables by means of a clamping or tensioning wheel which is rotatably mounted at a carriage or frame, wherein at the periphery of such clamping wheel there are arranged a plurality of guide elements for the cable which is to be tensioned, these guide elements consisting in each case of two clamping jaws.
A multiplicity of clamping mechanisms of the aforementioned general type are known to the art, usually in the form of so-called clamping or tensioning wheels. Also with these known constructions the clamping jaws are pressed against one another by springs in order to fixedly clamp the cable, for instance through the action of a respective double-arm lever for each pair of clamping jaws. For releasing the jaws there is provided at one end of each double-arm lever a roller member which travels upon a curved track or cam and thus controls opening and closing of the jaws.
These levers extend radially of the clamping wheels, so that the clamping jaws are located at the outer end and the rollers at the inner end. However, since the periphery of the circle reduces towards the center there is very little available space for the rollers when there are present a large number of pairs of clamping jaws and therefore also levers, so that the diameter of such rollers becomes relatively small which is disadvantageous as concerns their load carrying capability, longevity and maintainance.